Wanted to check if some of you has any experience with bidding on Lauritz. It's quite funny that you need to reach the seller's reserve to actually bid, can't they just start from there anyway instead of claiming the bid starts from much lower ? And on top of that, you need to pay an additional 22.5% to the seller again. Any comment is welcome.
I'd guess they want to show a low starting price to entice more bidders and then hope they get caught up in the frenzy of bidding. According to their rules, if you place a bid below the reserve, the reserve price will be shown to you. And then as bids get close to the reserve the color changes from red to bold red, and then to black once the reserve has been met. It's an interesting system. And the 22.5% buyers premium goes to Lauritz. Plus the seller pays Lauritz a 15% fee for their services. So, Lauritz is making 37.5% on every item sold - quite the racket.
What Mark says. The buyer's premium, - the 22,5 percent - is quiet the normal rate. That's how an auction house makes its money. Bruun Rasmussen charges 25 percent if I remember correctly, and I guess that all the American auction houses work the same way. Of course you have to know and understand this principle, otherwise you will be surprised how much the cost really is. But even if you know what you are doing, something that looks like a bargain can turn out pretty expensive. While the bidding is fun, you soon realize that 22,5 percent buyer's premium is much more than you roughly calculated and that you also miscalculated the exhange rate. Shipping also adds a lot to the price plus there might be artists royalty ...
Lauritz' system of bidding to the reserve is a bit odd indeed. But once you got it, it's quite fun to watch. In general, Lauritz is a good place to go if you know what you are looking for and how much you want to pay.
"People buy a chair, and they don't really care who designed it." (Arne Jacobsen)
If you need any help, please contact us at – info@designaddict.com